Date wheel setting device



Sept' 11, 1956 B. KNAUER DATE WHEEL SETTING DEVICE:

Filed Aug 8 1951 ATTOR N EY United States Patent O DATE WHEEL SETTING DEVICE Berthold Knauer, East Norwalk, Conn., assignor to Pitney-Bowes, Inc., Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Application August 8, 1951, Serial No. 240,872

2 Claims. (Cl. 101-110) This inventio-n relates to printing, and more particularly to printing of dates and to postage printing meters.

Postage meters presently in use comprise a movable printing member, usually in the form of a rotatable drum, which prints the postage indicia and value and also the town and date on a tape or on pieces of mail being fed through the machine adjacent the printing member. The type for inscribing the date is carried on movable type wheels mounted in one portion of the drum and capable of being set to the desired date. Rotation of the drum operates register means which indicate the amount of postage used.

In order to prevent the wiping of fraudulent impressions without rotating the drum and altering the register reading, the drum is housed in an enclosure which is so arranged that it can not be removed by unauthorized persons. To permit the drum to print, and to provide for setting of the date wheels, restricted apertures have been formed in the housing. They are carefully dimensioned and located with respect to the stopping position of the drum so that printing, except by the approved method of rotating the drum, is effectively barred.

It is through one of these apertures, located opposite the date wheels when the drum is in rest position, that setting of the date wheels has been effected heretofore. This operation has been normally carried out using a stylus adapted to project into the opening and to move the date wheels to the new date setting. The light within the housing is meager, and inasmuch as the date wheel types are reverse reading, it is difiicult as a rule to determine whether or not the date setting has been properly made.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved printing mechanism of the above character, wherein the means for setting the date wheels may be easily and quickly operated without requiring appreciable manual skill, and which provides a readily readable indication of the date wheel setting without the necessity fo-r inspecting the reverse reading type faces of the date wheels themselves.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of date-wheel setting means carried by the printing drum and having natural reading indicators showing at all times what date setting has been made on the printing wheels.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of wheel-setting means which is permanently and continuously geared to the date wheels themselves so that accurate indication of the date wheel setting will always be given by the indicators associated with the setting means.

In postage meters it is customary to mount the date printing means commonly called the dater die within a town die, and to provide means for projecting the dater die to printing position or retracting the same to nonprinting position.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved postage meter characterized by means directly geared to the date wheels yet also arranged to permit 'the projection and retraction of the dater die independently of the town die so as to enable the latter to print separately as required by some classes of mail.

Still another feature of the invention in accordance with the foregoing object consists in the mounting of the date wheel setting means on a bracket aflixed to the date die carriage to experience projection and retraction therewith, in conjunction with the provision of an opening in the relatively movable portion of the printing drum to permit appropriate movement of the setting means.

Usually the finger wheels of the setting mechanism are combined with the indicating means to show what setting has been made, and to this end the finger wheels are usually coaxially arranged in close proximity to one another so that their indicia will be closely related for ready reading. This, however, makes manual operation of the wheels difficult when they are of small size as dictated by the dimensions of postage meters, since there is a tendency for the operators lingers to move not only the selected wheel but also one of the adjacent wheels.

Another object of the invention is to provide a small and compact group of close-fitting finger wheels for date setting purposes which are so configured that they may be readily individually operated even though the wheels are of small size and disposed in a restricted space.

With the above and other objects in View, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that various changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a partial section through the case and printing drum of a postage printing device made according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial section of the printing drum of Fig. 1, taken substantially on line 22 thereof; and

Fig. 3 is a detail elevation of the finger wheel mechanism, taken substantially on line 3-3 o-f Fig. 2.

The figures of the drawings illustrate a postage meter having a rotary printing drum 11 mounted for rotation in a tamper-proof housing 13 which surrounds the drum 11 and substantially prevents the taking of impressions except by operating the drum in the intended manner which changes the reading of a register (not shown) as is well understood.

Printing drum 11 carries on its surface a postal indicia die 15 which surrounds a town die 17 in which there is slidably mounted a dater die 19. The dater die 19 includes a month printing wheel 21, two day printing wheels 23 and 25 and two year printing wheels 27 and 29. The wheels 23, 25, 27 and 29 are coaxially arranged on a shaft 31 affixed to the carriage or yoke 33 which form-s the foundation of the dater die 19. Detent means such as indicated at 35 in Fig. l is provided for retaining each of the wheels at the desired setting.

The town die 17 is illustrated in the accompanying drawing as being a fixed, continuously printing die which may be removed from its position in the drum 11 and replaced by actuation of the spring pressed latch 37. It will be understood, however, that a town die which is projectable to printing position and retractable to non printing position may be employed in 'connection with the dater setting mechanism herein described, if desired.

Operating means is provided for projecting the dater die to printing position and for retractiug the same to non-printing position, and this means is indicated generally by reference character 39. The operating means 39 is arcanos not-described in detail but is preferably of the type fully described in the .application of .Berthold Knauer, v Serial No. 214,750, tiled March 9,1951. In said application the operating means is shown as suited for the projection andretraction of both town and dater dies andmay be employed in that form, `when the invention is `applied to a mechanism where the town die is retractable. If, as in the structureshown in the accompanyingdrawing, .the town fdieis:1ixed,rthat portion of the operating means shown in said application which relates to dater die projection .and retraction may be used alone, Vand the town die op- ;erating portion omitted. Y

The present invention provides a plurality .of ,settable linger-engageablewheels carried bythe printing drum 11 rand :providedrwith a direct continuous mechanical connection to the date wheels `for lse ing the same andfor indicating at` all times, in a direct reading fashion, lthe .existing date wheel setting. In the form of the inven- Yticynfshown herein, only the month and day wheelsZl, 23 {andlare provided with the improved setting means, since these are the only wheels which require setting .oftener than once a year and hence are the wheels A where :the inconvenience of prior setting arrangements is most strongly felt. it will `be realized, however, that similar `.operating means can be provided for the year wheels 27, 4and 29 vif desired.

The wheels 21, 23 and 25 are, first of all, provided with relatively broad, deep notches 41 between their type faces,so coniiguredpas to form blunt spur gear teeth, said notches` takingjthe place of the notches normally provided iforvreception of a stylus. To one side of the date wheel axis, preferably that side which is towards the free -face of the printing drum, is an idler gear set 43,45 and 47 .coaxially mounted on a shaft49. The gear 43 meshes .with month wheel Z1, the gear 45 with the day tens wheel 23and the gear 47 with the day units wheel 25.

Coaxially mounted for` rotation about an axis to one Lside of and below said idler set is adrive gear set 51, 53 and 55. Drive gear 51 meshes with idler 43, drive gear v53 with idler 45 and drive gear-55 with idler 47. Each .of the drivegears is mounted on ashaft which connects it with its corresponding linger wheel. These shafts are telescoped and coaxially arranged as shown in Fig. 1. The outermost shaft. 57 is the shortest and is splined at one end to the drive gear Sland at itsother end to a month ringer wheel 59. The shaft 57 rotates on a smaller .and slightly longer shaft 61 which is splined at one end to the drive gear 53 and at theother end to a day `tens linger wheel 63. The innermost and longest shaft 65 .is splined at one end to the drive gear55 and at the other ,end to a day units linger wheel 67. A pair of arms `69 and 71 are aliixed to the carriage 33 and extend outwardly toward the drum face as seen in Fig. l. The shaft 49 is supported in a bearing on arm 69 and the telescoped `shafts 57, 61 are rotatable within shaft 65 which is in turn rotatably supported Vin a bearingprovided therefor in .arm 71. It will be seen that rotation of the linger wheels V59,-63 and 67 will produce corresponding rotation of the daterwheels 21, 23 and 25 respectively.

.An opening 72 is formed in the end wall ofthe drum 11 andis large enough to receive freely the drive gears and jlinger wheels of the setting mechanism, the linger wheels projecting through the opening 72 far enough for ready vlt't'cldivng and convenient manipulation. It will benoted that opening 72 has a radial extent sufficient to permit movement of the setting mechanism outwardly andl inwardly with the dater die 19 as the same is moved to and from printing position by the mechanism 39.

The linger wheels 59, 63 and 67 carry normal-reading indicia which corresponds to the reversereading type facesl of the date wheels, and a suitable index `rnark73 is provided, for example on the bracket 71, to identify the portions of the iinger wheel indicia which correspond with .the date wheel type faces which arey at that moment in printing position. Preferably` the linger-.wheel indicia are larger than their corresponding date wheel types, and are .of a color lcontrasting with their background so as to be easily read.

In accordance with this invention each of the finger wheels is provided with operating wings or ears, those on the month linger wheel being designated by the reference character 75 and those on the day wheels by reference characters 77 and 79. lnasmuchas the parts of the usual postage printing mechanism are quite small .and the avail- `able spacecxtremely restricted, (the drawing-being Vtwice fthe original size) it would normally be difricultto operate the linger wheels individually. It has been'found, however, that this dithculty can be obviated by shaping the nger wings in accordance Vwith `the showing of Fig. 2. In particular, the month wheelV wings are made highest at the extreme left-hand end remote from the day wheels and tapered to a low point at the end adjacent the day wheels. The wings 77 on the tens-of-days wheel are made highest at the end of the wheel next tothe month -wheel,.and lowest at the end next to the unit .day wheel. Also the wings79 are made lowest at the end of the wheel next to the tens-of-days wheel 63, and highest at the other end of Vtheunit wheel.

T he casingmay be arranged in any convenient manner `to provide access to the ngensettable wheels 59, 63 and 67, onearrangernent being to include an opening 83 in a walLSl adjacent said wheels when the printing drum is in a homev position. With .the finger wheels 59, 63 and 67 arranged transverse to the drum axis and with convenient wings 79 projecting therefrom, it is possible to manipulate said .wheels..through a very restricted opening. Thus each day an operator may set the date wheels to read the correct day by the simple manipulation of the finger settable wheels through .the opening 33. A hingedcover is provided on the casing 13 to normally close the opening83.

The operation of the mechanism of this invention is thus quite kapparent from the above description. vThe homeposition of the drum 15 is shown in Fig. 1,*with the finger-settable wheels 59, 63 and 67 located behind the opening 83 and cover 85 thereof. If it should be `desired to, set the printing wheels, this may be easily and,quicklyfaccomplished without resorting to a stylus or other tool, 4 byrnerely swinging open the lcover 85 and `reaching in with the iingers to turn the linger settable wheels-'59,63 and 67. vThe direction of rotation of the linger `(settablel wheels will be the same as that of the printing wheels because ofthe intermediary of the idler gears. ,--Thus the indicia on the linger settable wheels may read progressively, the months following each other in orderV on the month wheel, and the units and tens of days` appearing in consecutive order on their respective [.wheels, all as illustrated in Fig. 2. Reference may be hadto the index marker 73 when setting the wheels 59, A63 and 67, land the wheels will give a direct reading of .thefmattenwhich is to be printed by the printing wheels ,duringithe operation of the device. By the provision of the wings 75, 77 and 79 on the .ngersettable wheels 59, 63 and 67 any one wheel may beeasily and quickly adjusted or set withoutinterference 'from the other wheels, since the high portions of the wings are relatively widely spaced apart by virtue of their particularshaping or configuration. At any time during the day the operator may check the setting of the printing wheels by merely Vswinging ,open Ythe cover 85 and observing the indicianon the Ilinger operable wheels 59, 63 and 67, and this is an jimportant feature of the present invention.

` Having described the invention what is claimed is:

l. In a postage meter, a printing drum; a carriage slidably Vmounted Von said drum; date printing wheels having gear tooth peripheries mounted on said carriage mandmoyable therewith between printing and non-printing positions; settingmeans including gears meshedwith said ,dater wheels and indicia bearing finger wheels for driving said gears for moving said date wheels and to indicate the position thereof, said drum having an opening at one end thereof receiving said linger Wheels and exposing at least a portion thereof in a position convenient for manual actuation, and means for mounting said set ting means on said carriage for movement therewith whereby the correct relationship between the linger wheel indicia and the date wheel types is maintained, regardless of the position of the carriage, the opening in the drum being of suicient extent to permit movement of said setting mechanism with said carriage.

2. In a postage meter, a printing drum having an opening at one end wall thereof, date printing wheels coaxially mounted side-by-side on the drum inward from the said end wall and adjacent the periphery of the drum, said wheels having gear toothed peripheries and having their axes spaced from and transverse to the axis of the drum, manually operable date setting wheels mounted side-by-side within the opening at the said one end wall of the drum and in oifset relation to the printing Wheels, each setting wheel having a geared connection with the gear toothed periphery of an associated date printing wheel, the setting wheels further including wings projecting radially outward from the wheel periphery and spaced so as to be individually accessible for manipulation by the linger of an operator from the exterior when setting the printing wheels, each setting wheel also including the month or day indicia on its periphery in a direct reading order.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,049,908 Pannier Jan. 7, 1913 1,208,642 Pitney Dec. 12, 1916 1,403,321 Henry Jan. 10, 1922 1,728,826 Gruttmann Sept. 17, 1929 1,947,893 Wheelbarger Feb. 20, 1934 1,968,347 Ochsenbein July 31, 1934 1,994,431 May Mar. 12, 1935 2,204,971 Rouan June 18, 1940 2,306,499 Ronan Dec. 19, 1942 2,510,350 Rouan lune 6, 1950 2,524,543 Ryan et al Oct. 3, 1950 2,687,692 Kubovy Aug. 31, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 720,360 Germany May 4, 1942 OTHER REFERENCES May 

